Share this image

France's gypsy crackdown

View Gallery

Members of Romania's ethnic Roma minority arrive at Bucharest airport August 9, 2012. Roma people arrived in Romania after French police raided a makeshift Roma camp, evicting about 200 people as the Socialist government quietly follows the former conservative administration's policy of repatriating illegal immigrants. Bogdan Cristel/Reuters

A French policeman stands guard as Roma men, referred to as 'Gens du Voyage' pull their caravan along the road as they are evacuated from an illegal camp in Villeneuve d'Ascq, August 9, 2012. Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

A Roma encampment is set up near a highway in Clamart, west of Paris, Aug. 10, 2012. Police officers shut down encampments used by Roma or Gypsies, in Paris and in the northern city of Villeneuve d'Ascq. Michel Euler/AP

French police evacuated some 150 people who resided in an illegal camp of traveling people and Roma in northern France. Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

A Roma man, referred to as 'Gens du Voyage,' reacts a French police remove caravans belonging to their community as they are evacuated from an illegal camp in Villeneuve d'Ascq, August 9, 2012. Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

Roma families push shopping carts with their belongings as they are evacuated from an illegal camp in Villeneuve d'Ascq, August 9, 2012. Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

A Romanian Gypsy, also known as a Roma, holds a child after arriving from France in Bucharest, Romania, on Aug. 19, 2010. France expelled nearly 100 Romas to their native Romania as part of a very public effort to dismantle Roma camps and sweep them out of the country. Those repatriated on Thursday left 'on a voluntary basis,' and were given small sums of money - 300 euro ($386) for each adult and 100 euro for children. Vadim Ghirda/AP

A man sits outside a caravan in an illegal camp of Roma in Saint Andre lez Lille, near Lille, France, on Aug. 9, 2010. The mayor of Saint Andre asked for this camp to be dismantled one week before France's President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered the dismantling of 300 illegal camps of traveling people and Roma across France as part of a 'war' on crime and urban violence which has alarmed some rights groups. Some 10,000 Romas were expelled from France last year alone. Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

French itinerant people face riot policemen during the closing of their camp in Langlet, France, on Aug. 13, 2010. Bob Edme/AP

Women and children gather near caravans inside an illegal camp of traveling people in Indre, near Nantes, France, on July 30, 2010. Stephane Mahe/Reuters

Alice Januel, a member of a Roma association, displays an official document which authorizes French Gypsies to travel with their caravan at a press conference with members of different French Roma associations in Saint Ouen, France, on July 27, 2010. Michel Euler/AP

Two Romanian gypsies sleep on a bed at a school gymnasium in Choisy le Roi, France, Aug. 18, 2010. France's immigration minister, Eric Besson, says the government isn't going after Gypsies, despite almost daily raids by police to dismantle illegal camps. Michel Euler/AP

A woman from a Roma family leaves a shelter built after police seized their caravan two weeks ago in an illegal camp in Roubaix, France, on Aug. 17, 2010. Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

A Roma woman named Georgineta holds her passport and boarding documents as she waits for her flight to Romania on a voluntary repatriation operation at the Charles-de-Gaulle airport in Roissy, France, on Aug. 19, 2010. Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

Children stand at the door of a caravan inside an illegal camp near Nantes, France, on July 30, 2010. Stephane Mahe/Reuters

A Roma woman sorts through clothes distributed by aid volunteers in front of her tent after police seized their caravans two weeks ago in an illegal camp in Roubaix, France, on Aug. 18, 2010. Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

A Roma man, wearing a accordion on his back, disembarks from a bus at the Saint Exupery airport in Lyon, France, on Aug. 19, 2010, en route for Bucharest, Romania. Thomas Campagne/AP

A Romanian Roma man carries a child after arriving from France in Bucharest, Romania, on Aug. 19, 2010. Vadim Ghirda/AP

A Roma man positions planks of wood as his family stands outside their makeshift shelter built after police seized their caravan two weeks ago in an illegal camp in Roubaix, France, on Aug. 17, 2010. Pascal Rossignol/Reuters